The government today said that it will be difficult to stay with the targeted nine per cent average annual GDP growth rate during Twelfth Plan period as the global economic situation continues to be uncertain.

Minister for state for planning, science and technology and earth sciences Dr. Ashwini Kumar said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha that recently, the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council has assessed that the economy is likely to grow at 6.7 per cent during the year 2012-13, while the Reserve Bank of India has projected the growth rate to be 6.5 percent during 2012-13.

He said that with the continuing uncertainties in global economic environment coupled with certain domestic factors like inflation, higher interest rates and supply side bottlenecks, the growth of the industrial and services sectors is likely to be affected. He said the growth of the agriculture sector which contributes about 14 per cent to the GDP may also not be on the expected lines because of weak monsoon experienced till now.

Dr. Kumar said that the compound impact of all these factors may result in registering a lower economic growth during the current year.